Holiday From Real
by LoveIsATemple
Summary: Instead of contacting Wren after Abel broke up with Cath, what if Levi got to her first and wouldn't leave her alone until she cheered up?


**A/N: **I don't even know if people read Fangirl fanfics, but here is my hope that they do.

This is a random thing I thought up when I was bored. It's not meant to mean much, but it was fun to write. By all means, you don't have to like it.

When I thought this thing up, I was wondering what would've happened if instead of telling Wren after Abel broke up with her, Cath got ambushed by Levi. So it takes place immediately after Cath hangs up on Abel. And don't worry, she ends up contacting Wren and everything still happens with Levi meeting her, it just takes a little bit more time.

Feel free to review if you want to. And if you want more, tell me. Because let me just say, I am in love with Rainbow Rowell and with all the characters she creates. I just read Landline the other day and I was blown away.

Fair warning-there will be mistakes. Sorry.

Anyway, please enjoy my first Fangirl fanfiction story. I've just realised how ironic all of this is...

* * *

"But if you left it up to me, **  
**

Everyday would be a holiday from real.

We'd waste our weeks beneath the sun,

We'd lie and tell our friends it's so much fun out here.

But when it's all over,

I'll come back for another year."

"Holiday From Real" | Jack's Mannequin

* * *

**Holiday From Real**

"I've got to go," she said, and pressed END.

Cath's mind fizzed, like someone had screwed open her head and poured a two-litre bottle of Sprite over her brain. It didn't feel like Abel had just broken up with her. There were no tears threatening to break through their barriers. She wasn't ready to scream and choke the girl—Katie, she thought with a roll of her elegant eyes—who had taken her one last hope of normalcy from her.

She just felt numb. And broken. And wired. All at once. She wondered if this was how zombies felt, or vampires—dead, but alive. Was this how Baz felt?

Distraction. That's what she needed. She needed Nick to be just around the corner, waiting with his blue eyes and thick brows for her. She needed someone to call her and tell her that her letter to Watford had been lost in the mail and that she was being sent off to magician's school.

Something tightened in her stomach at the thought—_Wren_. She should probably call Wren. Or at least text her. Despite their chilling interactions recently, Wren would no doubt want to know what had just happened.

God, had it just happened? It felt like a lifetime ago. Like high school was a lifetime ago. Now she was in college, waiting patiently and hungrily to get her degree. She was making friends in strange places with girls too big and with boys too tall. Wren was ignoring her and teasing her cruelly about their childhood. Dad—he was all alone in Omaha, probably willing away the urge to slip into his own mind.

Oh, now the tears decided they wanted an invite to the pity party. Cath leaned against the brick wall she had just been kicking and bent down, grasping at her knees. She inhaled a slow breath, letting it flatten the carbon dioxide bubbling in her ears. Her eyes glossed over and she blinked repeatedly, trying to squish the tears before they could slide down her cold cheeks.

She wasn't in love with Abel. He was right, probably, about them not being really _together s_ince Junior year. But her chest still hurt. It still constricted, making it difficult to breathe.

He really was just an end-table. There was no real explanation for the powerful, horrible emotions brewing inside of her.

She needed to call Wren. She needed her sister, her partner. The one person who always told her she never needed to be alone, that she never _was _alone.

But then she remembered how Wren had talked to her the last time she'd called, and the tears welled up again, only this time they were like hail—painful and huge and relentless.

_She was drunk, or high. _Cath reminded herself, though it hardly helped. _She was just … Ugh … Just._ There was that acidic, passive-aggressive word again. Maybe calling Wren right now was a bad idea. Her foot was sore and her mind was coming down from its absurd buzz, leaving her bones the consistency of jelly.

Absently she wondered where her writing partner was and lifted her heavy head up to look for him, realising too late that the sun had become way too bright. Shielding her eyes with her left hand, she shoved her phone away and twisted her head in search. He was nowhere in sight. Students passed left and right, some with Levi-challenging smiles and others with heads lower than hers.

_Everyone has problems._ She told herself in another veiled attempt to cheer herself up. Reaching into her pocket distractedly, Cath checked the time. Nick was supposed to have met her by now.

She kicked off the wall and shook her head forcefully. When she stopped, she had to readjust her glasses and tighten her hair tie.

Outside had suddenly become overwhelming. She was tired of waiting. She was sick of college. She was _sick. _Just … just sick. She didn't even want to go to Piper's class, though the appeal of losing herself in not only another lecture but a lecture about escaping (because that's what _fiction was_) was nearly as overwhelming as the chilled outdoors.

She'd never cut class before. The idea had never crossed her mind. Children in the movies did it, in novels, but she was a normal girl in a normal school with a lonely heart and an inbox full of people begging her, demanding her, to write stories about a vampire and a magician. She'd seen _Ferris Bueller's Day Off _though, and it looked like a fun time.

She didn't want _fun _now, not really, but she didn't want to stand still any longer. Her joints were freezing into glaciers and her soda-filled head had finally turned to crisp, cool water.

Before she even knew what she was doing, the English building was fading fast behind her and the open campus was before her aching eyes. Students bustled past her and she avoided eye contact with all of them. Occasionally someone would crash into her, mumbling half-assed apologies and then giggling to their friends.

They talked around her, surrounding her in blankets of voices and stories. She tried not to listen, but they were just _so loud_.

_Did you hear about Josephine? — Oh, my god, I know, right? _

_And she just kind of passed out on me. — Steve told me she vomited on your new shoes. — Well, Steve's an asshole who needs to check his sources. _

_It hurt. A lot. And then it was over. — It didn't even feel good at all? — Is it supposed to? _

Cath couldn't tell if these random people were helping her situation or making it worse. She didn't want to cry anymore, so she went with the former and lifted her head a little bit higher, even if it meant taking the brunt of the wind chill.

As her face was overtaken by sunshine and wind and pink, her eyes took in a figure standing dead in front of her a few feet away.

_Levi._

He smiled like he'd just won some secret prize. Some really, really amazing secret prize. It made her slightly uncomfortable.

A few guys hung back with him, trying to find what he was staring at. When their eyes locked on Cath they blinked like _they_ were the ones facing an over-the-moon happy Levi standing in a halo of sunlight.

Cath didn't want to walk anymore. In fact, she wanted to run. The emotions were swelling again, forming an annoying lump in her throat. She could barely deal with Levi on a good day, let alone a day where she wasn't talking with her sister, her boyfriend-ish had just broken up-ish with her, and she was skipping class.

Years went by before Cath noticed she wouldn't have to move—Levi was walking toward her instead, still looking as if he'd been given the world. She had to remind herself that he always looked like this.

"_Cath_," he said, reaching her. "Are you skipping class?" Levi looked over her head at Andrew's Hall. He sounded too happy and the lump in her throat rose a little bit more. She coughed, but it came out like a choked sob.

She ignored the concern etched in his crinkled smile. "I—" she faltered, words swimming like sharks in her head, all unwilling to meet her mouth.

"You are, aren't you." It wasn't even a question anymore.

It was too happy. Too light.

The lump turned to lead.

Cath looked everywhere but Levi, noticing his group of friends still hanging back. "Your friends," she mumbled, tilting her head in their direction. A couple of the boys—men—smirked at her secretly. It made her insides coil.

Levi turned his head swiftly and shouted, "Go to class, slackers!" and Cath desperately wanted to escape, but by the time the idea popped into her brain, he'd turned back around. She'd have to be quicker next time.

"So," he lulled, like he was singing some extraordinary song. "You're skipping class?"

"So are you," she managed to mutter through the football lodged in her throat.

"Maybe. And besides, I'm interested to know why you're deciding on now to skip."

Cath got the powerful urge to pass out. She swayed on her feet and watched Levi's hands twitch. Like he was just waiting for her to collapse into his arms. "Things."

"Such a vague answer," he smiled, the grin not reaching his eyes.

"I need to go now," Cath decided, moving to walk around him.

"Why are you skipping your favourite class?" Levi asked, following her. Cath's personal space was definitely being invaded.

She whipped her head around harshly. Her glasses tilted. "How do you know which class that was?"

"Reagan."

"Of course."

They walked in silence for a moment longer. Cath almost forgot there was a tall boy next to her.

"Why are you skipping?" He panted. "And where are you going?"

"I don't know," she replied, answering the last question.

Levi jogged lazily in front of her and turned his body so he was facing her, a smile still plastered to his face.

"That doesn't seem safe," Cath whispered. Would he mind if she shoved him out of the way? _Probably not. This was Levi—whatever that meant. _

Levi's smile grew into the Grand Canyon. "I have eyes in the back of my head."

"Tell that to the pole." Cath jerked her eyes and admired the way Levi stopped suddenly, pirouetting so he was walking forward again.

His eyes widened with shock. "I do believe you're teasing me, Cather."

"Cath," she strained automatically. Levi smiled again.

Cath saw a bench just in the distance and decided that was where she was going. It was in the middle of a square between buildings. Golden trees surrounded it and a fountain with no running water sat in the centre. It looked lonely.

Of course, Levi sat directly next to her, his body radiating unnatural amounts of heat. He was dressed in a flannel shirt and jeans. Cath wondered if later, he'd be in his room, looking at all of his black clothing, trying to decide on which kind of man he wanted to be on his next shift.

"So," Levi whistled.

"Why are you following me?" Cath countered before Levi could ask his question again.

There was a pause—it was heavy, like the exercise ball shoved down Cath's throat.

"You looked sad," was all he said.

The occasional student passed them. Cath kept her head down, but knew that next to her sat a struggling Levi, forcing himself to not jump up and talk to each and every one of them.

Something told her Levi was staring at her. She got a prickle on the skin of her neck and a tightening in her belly. The moon in her throat swelled to the size of the sun—it burned and threatened to split open her mouth.

As the last of the stragglers disappeared, a refreshing silence surrounded the pair for a long, relaxing while. Cath's breathing went in and out of steadiness as she fought away the emotions swarming inside of her.

"Okay," Levi said, turning his whole body so he faced Cath's steadily declining face. "What's the matter?" His voice was soft and sweet and it made Cath want to cry even more. But she didn't need him to see her like this. She needed to be alone.

"Levi, please," she begged. "I just want—" _Just … Just._ "Leave me alone," she whispered, refusing to look at him.

There was a soft intake of breath as Levi's breathing shallowed. Cath felt a pang of guilt. On top of everything else.

Cath knew Levi was going to stand up before he got to his feet. His legs started shaking in preparation. And sure enough he was in front of her, leaning over her like he was about to fall, in seconds. Despite her desperation to _not _look at him, Cath lifted her gaze and met his shining eyes.

"I'm taking you somewhere to cool down."

"I'm cold enough, thank you," she barked, regretting the sarcastic comment immediately. "I—sorry, Levi."

He didn't seem fazed by her at all and instead smiled wider and brighter. Cath would need to start wearing sunglasses whenever he was around.

"Stand up." He held out a hand for Cath, who looked at it with mild disgust and intrigue.

She shook her head. "Why?"

"You need to cheer up. It's bringing me down watching you be all sad. And if you won't tell me the problem, I'll cheer you up instead."

"I don't need cheering up. I need to be alone."

"Cather." He narrowed his eyes and she immediately felt like a child being chastised by her father.

She blinked at Levi and frowned. "No."

Petulant. She sounded absolutely petulant. But she didn't care. And apparently, neither did Levi. He reached down and grabbed one of her hands, yanking so hard that she flew up in the air and landed ungracefully on the ground.

"Ow," she whimpered, rather petulantly.

"Come on," Levi said, grinning and pulling at Cath's hand. She had no choice but to obey. His grip was like a shark's.

Cath didn't want to admit it, but walking with Levi made it easier to ignore her problems. His hand was so large over her own, like she was being dragged against her will by a claw machine and not a tall college boy. He encased her, made her feel safe. And she disliked the feeling incredibly.

"Where are we going?" She pulled her arm, trying to get it out of Levi's hold.

He held on tighter. "I'm not going to tell you."

"Why not?"

"Because you won't tell me why you look like someone killed your dog."

"I don't even have a dog to be killed."

"We should get you one. Maybe it'd cheer you up."

"I thought that was what you were here for," Cath murmured disapprovingly.

Levi turned his head ever-so-slightly so he could look her in the eye and smiled like she'd just told him the cure for cancer.

Maybe she had.

* * *

They stopped when they reached a red truck. Levi, reluctantly it seemed, let go of her hand. She snatched it back like she'd been bitten by a snake and observed it carefully. It was red on the inside, more so than usual. And sweaty despite the chill in the air. When Levi wasn't looking, she sniffed it.

_Coffee. _

"Welcome to my white horse." Levi said, with a grin so wide his face was sure to split. He opened his arms wide and laughed. Cath wanted to join in.

She furrowed her eyebrows instead. "It's a red truck."

"Well, _Cather_, I meant that this is my equivalent of a white horse."

"Oh." Cath tried not to look at Levi. "So you rescue damsels in distress with this thing?"

"Not all the time."

"Do you think of me as a damsel in distress?" She turned to face him finally and almost couldn't bear to look at him.

"At the moment? No." He smiled conspiratorially. "But you are in distress. Silent, mournful distress. Dead dog distress, remember?"

"What's that Katy Perry song about a white horse?"

Levi laughed again, loudly. He covered his mouth with his oversized, square fingers. Cath got the unsteady feeling he was laughing _at her._

"What?" She asked defensively, crossing her arms.

"There's a song about white horses," he agreed, "but it's by Taylor Swift."

Ah. "Well, excuse me."

"What's your point about the song?" He asked through scattered laughs.

"Never mind. Just tell me why we're waiting outside your red truck."

* * *

Levi was taking her somewhere off campus. His truck sputtered along the road at a steady speed, jerking whenever a gear shift was required.

The truck was old. Older than Levi and Cath put together, she thought. Unless she was way off about Levi's age and he was really a thirty-something college student.

He didn't look thirty. Mid-twenties, perhaps. But he had rims around his mouth and eyes from smiling so much. And he was losing hair, the fact made obvious by his constant handling of it. Even when he drove, his hand would find its way to the top of his head.

Idly, Cath thought of how soft it must be. It was right there, right on top of his head. She could easily reach over and run her fingers through it…

"Where are we going?" She asked again, if only to distract herself from her inappropriate thoughts.

Levi did that to her. Made her think inappropriate thoughts. She kind of loathed him because of it.

"Not telling," he whistled.

Cars and trucks and mini-vans followed them on the road. Cath watched them from the window, wondering where they were headed. Wondering if any of the girls she saw were being held sort of against their will by their roommate's overzealous boyfriend.

"Do you like music?" He looked at her suddenly, briefly, before turning his eyes back to the road.

Music…

"Yes," she answered wearily. Where was he going with this?

Without looking, Levi punched something on the radio and a voice came rustled through some cracked speakers. He twisted some dials with a smile plastered on his face, surfing through stations, until he was satisfied.

"Who is this?" Cath asked.

"Ultravox."

"Who?" Cath eyed Levi quizzically.

He smiled wider, showing off his beautiful teeth. Dentists must love him. "English, started in the seventies, didn't really make it 'til the eighties. New wave. This is their most famous song."

Cath's leg started jumping with the steady beat.

"What's it about?"

"I don't…I don't know," Levi admitted, running a hand through his hair. He'd be bald by the time they reached their destination. "Vienna?"

"Vienna the capital of Austria, or a woman named Vienna?"

"Vienna's the capital of Austria?"

Shaking her head, Cath listened to the music and looked out the window again, watching cars and girls who were probably being held against their will by their roommate's overzealous boyfriend.

* * *

"Vienna's a place in Virginia too, you know," Levi pointed out as they pulled into a parking spot by a lake.

No one was there. No one would hear Cath if she screamed. Except Levi.

"Yeah. And it's a place in Alabama, Maine, Georgia, Maryland, Ontario, Canada…"

Levi smiled. "Okay, I get it. You passed high school Geography, Little Miss Overachiever. Do you need a hand getting out?"

Cath shook her head—_no—_but Levi insisted. He hopped out, landing with a thud, and came to open Cath's door.

"I don't need help."

"I don't care."

After some squabbling limbs and some choice curse words, Cath was safely on the ground. Levi walked ahead of her, thankfully not taking her hand again. She didn't think she could deal if he touched her.

"Can I know now where you're taking me?"

The sun was still high above them, casting golden rays across the water of the lake. It reflected into Cath's eyes and now she really wished she had some sunglasses.

A shock of cold air rushed through the trees. Cath's skin burst with gooseflesh. She ran as delicately as possible to catch up to Levi who had yet to tell her where they were.

"I'd like to know, if you don't mind," she pressed, reaching his side. She was breathing heavily.

"Why?" Levi twisted his neck and looked down on her, like he was above her on so many more levels than just height and age.

Cath licked her lips and pretended not to notice Levi watching her tongue. "So I know you aren't going to murder me and then throw my lifeless body into the lake."

"Do I seem like the murdering type?"

"Do you want me to answer that question?"

Levi stopped walking. He pressed a hand against his chest and frowned, feigning insult. "Cather, you wound me."

"I will wound you if you don't tell me where we're going. Don't underestimate my strength."

"I wouldn't dream of it," he said. "I'm taking you to a swing set. It's just over here." He pointed ahead of them, through browning trees.

"A swing set?" Cath had always hated swings. They were unsteady and sometimes you couldn't stop them.

Levi kept walking with purpose, his legs shaking every once in a while. Cath kept up with him easily. She sometimes forgot how lazily he walked.

Stepping through the large expanse of trees, Cath and Levi came upon a two-seater swing set right on the water's edge. If you swung too high and decided to jump off, you'd land ass-first in the lake. Cath definitely didn't like swing sets.

"Come on then," Levi breathed. He took a seat on the left swing, but kept his feet on the ground. He was too big for this. It would probably collapse if he tried moving.

Cath eyed the swing nervously. Bad memories of falling to a mulch-covered ground when she was ten came to mind. Definitely hated swings.

Levi smiled at her, all warm and friendly. It put Cath off. "Sit," he commanded as if he were talking to a puppy too cute for its own good.

Sometimes Cath thought Levi was too cute for his own good.

"It won't bite," he teased in only the way Levi could.

Cath scowled. "I know that," she spat. Just to prove that she wasn't scared, she stomped over to the swing by his side and sat down. The metal frame jerked under her weight.

"This thing won't collapse on us, will it?" She couldn't help but voice her fear.

"I shouldn't think so."

Cath looked at Levi who looked right back at her. His eyes were inviting and kind and too good. Far too good. Always far too good.

When she'd started school, all she wanted was Wren. All she really needed (or thought she needed) was Wren. But then Levi was in her dorm room and he was so talkative. Then there was Reagan, who showed Cath she didn't need to eat alone.

She wasn't talking to Wren as much as she'd like, but she realised here, now, sitting with Levi, that it didn't matter as much as it used to.

Cath took a deep, calming breath and kicked off the ground.

Her stomach dropped and she felt the wind move through her as she flew.

* * *

Hours seemed to pass as she swung. Her eyes had closed somewhere along the way and she'd even managed to block out the incessant whining of the metal chain squeaking under her weight. All she could sense was the bite of cold on her skin and the sun soaking through her clothes to her bones.

It was like therapy.

Here, she could forget about everything. Absolutely everything but the way she was cold and warm at the same time.

She'd almost forgotten Levi was even there. Until he coughed, startling Cath out of her daydream.

"You look happier," he said, and she knew he was grinning.

Cath breathed, opening her eyes only slightly so that a sliver of light poured into her vision. It was the same as staring at a smiling Levi.

"I feel better, thanks." She had to keep her voice steady and loud so he could hear her.

She went on swinging. Birds chirped somewhere in her ears, blocking out the noisy sound of Levi smiling.

"Why did you bring me here?" Cath asked. She put the brakes on her legs and eased to a stop just by the water's edge.

Levi shrugged sheepishly. How adorable. She almost couldn't look at him. Almost.

"I clear my head here. Found it by accident freshman year after a pretty bad test grade. This place always helps me when I'm down."

Cath suddenly felt like Levi was sharing some intimate part of himself with her. She got the urge to cover herself up, but thought better of it. She was wearing too much anyway.

"I can't imagine you being upset enough to mope on a swing by a lake in the middle of nowhere," Cath said aloud. She blushed light pink and turned away from Levi.

Levi only grinned at her. "You know nothing of the sorrow in my soul," he joked and Cath felt a smile of her own threaten to break free.

* * *

"My boyfriend broke up with me."

Cath didn't know why she said it. As soon as she had, she pressed her fingers (all ten of them—or eight of them, she was never sure) to her lips.

Maybe it was the warmth she felt. Or the cold. Both, perhaps.

It was probably just Levi, though. And the uncanny ability he had to make her feel safe and protected.

_He's your roommate's boyfriend!_

She chanced a look at him.

He still smiled, but it was sad and full of icky compassion.

"And I'm not sure how I feel about it," she explained further, for some reason feeling the need for explanations.

Levi's forehead creased and he licked his lips the way one would after they tasted something absolutely awful. The look didn't suit him.

"Wren always told me he was an end-table. Which, I guess, is true—" she sighed —"I don't know why I'm telling you this. It's a childish, girlish problem. You don't need to hear it."

"Hey," he said, so softly she wasn't sure he'd even spoken, "I asked you to come here. I asked why you were so sad. I want to know."

Cath frowned at him. "Why do you want to know?"

"Because you're my friend. And friends look out for each other."

She hadn't thought of that. At all.

Were they friends? He always asked her to hang out with him. But it was only if he was taking Reagan somewhere. She was the back-burner friend. The second thought. She always had been.

"Do they now…" she murmured.

Levi crossed one of his gangly legs over his knee at the ankle. The swing set lurched. "How long had you two been together?"

Cath thought momentarily about not telling him. About standing up and walking away and never seeing this smiling face ever again. But she had no Wren and this seemed like the best substitute. He could be her not-Wren.

"Too long, I think," she told him carefully. She would have to choose her words wisely with this one.

Levi swallowed thickly. Cath thought it sounded painful. "Did you love him?"

"That's a bit personal, don't you think?" Cath chided. Then —"No, I don't think I did."

"Is that why you're so sad?" He asked, and Cath wasn't sure if he was referring to the fact that she'd never been in love with him or the fact that she'd just been dumped.

"Yes and no. There's a lot going on at the moment. In my head. And now this—" she pushed her arms in front of her in exasperation—"It all came bubbling up and I got…sad." She couldn't think of a better word. Skipping Fiction-Writing was already taking its toll.

Cath eyed Levi's square hands. They held on to the metal chains attaching the swing to its frame like he'd held on to her hand. His knuckles were steadily turning white.

"Who's Wren?" He asked out of the blue.

He was always doing that, saying things without precedent.

_Someone I don't want to talk about. _"My sister," she mumbled.

Levi's breath stilled so suddenly that Cath just had to look at him to make sure he wasn't going to collapse. She watched his eyes grow to the size of saucers. Really, really big saucers.

"Why aren't you talking to her about this?" He wondered, breathless, like he'd run a marathon.

"She's part of the reason I'm upset," Cath said.

"Oh."

Cath thought she'd never heard so little out of Levi's small mouth. It was like he didn't know what to do. They were rarely ever alone together, and when they were Cath was doing schoolwork and Levi was waiting patiently for Reagan to appear out of voluptuous air.

Now here they were, with no schoolwork and no Reagan to distract themselves. They were like cornered animals. Spooked and wired. Lost.

"You should call her. Or go see her. Where does she live?"

"She goes to school with us."

"Oh," he whimpered again. "_Sister._"

Cath ignored him. It was easier than dealing the idea that a stranger (Because that's what Levi was, really, despite his admission that he thought of them as friends.) cared about her. Worried about her.

"Thanks," she said quietly. Levi gave her a confused look. She rolled her eyes. "For bringing me here."

"Anytime," he assured her, smiling ever-so-widely, and Cath knew to believe him.

* * *

The drive back to campus was much less fidgety. Levi's whimsical day-trip helped more than Cath was ready to admit.

They travelled in silence, which suited Cath just fine. She'd never talk again after what she'd disclosed today. But still, she was better. More confident that just because high school was now over, she had time to fix things. Time to find new things, college things.

Levi helped her get down again, and she didn't make a fuss, though part of her still wanted to. He grinned from ear to ear at her as he set her down and she allowed herself to give him a small quirk of her lips. His smile, somehow, got even bigger. She rolled her eyes at the back of his sticky-up hair when he turned away.

"How do you feel?" Levi asked as they got to her dorm room.

"Not so bad," she confessed.

Cath took her keys out of her bag as a signal for Levi to leave. He didn't seem to get the hint.

He leaned casually against the wall and ran a hand through his already-spiked hair. "Good. Yeah, that place always helps me. And no one seems to know about it."

"Except you," Cath mentioned impatiently. He'd done his duty as white knight. Now he needed to go. The lump was back in her throat, but it was different. It wasn't painful. He needed to go.

"And you." He tapped her nose gently with the pad of his left index finger. A spark of something shot through Cath's skin and spread to her belly.

Cath jammed the key into the lock. "Reagan's probably looking for you. I know you two have a study-date this evening."

"Are you trying to get rid of me?" Cath could hear his teasing smile. It churned the acid in her stomach gleefully.

"It's not working very well," she muttered, twisting the doorknob with one swift turn of her wrist.

Levi dissolved into a small fit of laughter. Light bursts of giggles escaped his precious bow lips.

He held up his arms while fighting off another laugh. "Okay, okay, I'll take my cue."

He started walking away just as Cath started walking into her room.

"Cather!" He called and she immediately twisted back into the hallway. She lifted her eyebrows in question at Levi, standing—somehow—gangly by the elevator.

He walked quickly when he wanted to, it seemed.

So why did he always walk so slowly with her?

"What?" She said eventually with playful exasperation.

The elevator dinged and he stepped in backwards. He'd kill himself that way if he wasn't careful.

"Call your sister."


End file.
